Left To Tell

The very first time I went to an MCCW meeting, I was given a copy of the new book they were going to read and discuss. On the cover was a pretty African woman, her name, and the title of the book. I didn't even know how to pronounce her name at first: Immaculée Ilibagiza. Little did I know what horrors this woman had endured or the story she had to share in her book Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust. The weekend before, some of the women in the group had actually had a chance to meet her, and they had these books signed by her. When I took the book, I only thought it was neat that my book was signed by the author. Now that I've read it, I will treasure this book, and I am saddened that I wasn't with the other women when they met this person of God.

In 1994, I was 10 years old. Bill Clinton was our president, and I vaguely remember watching him say something about Rwanda on TV at the time. What did I care? I was a little kid who was too busy, well, just being a kid. For too long, the rest of the world didn't care about what was happening in Rwanda either. There was a genocide going on, neighbors killing neighbors. Immaculée, a Tutsi, spent 91 days hiding in the small bathroom of a moderate Hutu priest with 7 other women while almost 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.  During those 3 months, she prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and prayed. And, she learned about forgiveness, and how to forgive. She survived, miraculously, and was left to tell what happened.

I missed the next two meetings of the MCCW while they discussed the first two-thirds of the book due to sick kids and having to pick up our van. I wish I could have heard their takes on the story because I know it haunted me. I will never understand how human beings can be so evil and vile to each other. It hurts my heart. Yet, Immaculée's story has a positive ending in that her relationship with God grew so strong that she could use it to save other people. She can teach us so much about forgiveness, as she forgave her family's killers. That takes courage, and faith, and is something I don't know I could do if I were in her position.

I strongly recommend reading this book to anyone and everyone. Those who don't study the past are bound to repeat it, and we can all agree that genocide should never happen - ever. While there is much heartbreak in this story, there is also love, God's love, and it is beautiful.

To learn more about Immaculée, and for more information on how to buy this book, please go to this website:

http://www.lefttotell.com/